This invention relates to games of chance and, more particularly, to lottery-type games which provide for active player participation. The invention encompasses a gaming method, an apparatus through which the game may be played, and a program product for implementing the game.
Lottery-type games are popular sources of revenue for governmental agencies and charitable organizations. As used in this disclosure, a xe2x80x9clottery-type gamexe2x80x9d comprises a game having a predetermined number of payouts or prizes and a determined chance of winning. For example, a lottery-type game may comprise a scratch-off or pull-tab game having a number of pre-printed tickets. Each ticket has some type of printed result indicator which indicates if the particular ticket is a winning ticket and, if the ticket is a winning ticket, indicates the prize or payout. The result indicator is commonly covered with some opaque cover material which may be scratched off or otherwise removed to reveal the indicator below. Thus, the ticket purchaser cannot see if the ticket is a winning ticket until purchasing the ticket and removing the opaque cover material.
Prior lottery-type games suffer from the fact that the games require no player involvement other than simply uncovering the result indicator to find the predetermined prize or payout. Thus, prior lottery-type games lack the player excitement generated in casino-type games of chance such as draw poker and black jack, for example, which require active player participation and some level of player skill.
In recognition of this disadvantage of lottery-type games, some of these games are made to resemble casino-type games. For example, each result indicator on a scratch-off game may comprise a representation of a draw poker hand. Winning tickets in this type of scratch-off game may include a result indicator which represents a traditional winning poker hand such as a straight, flush, or full house, for example. These lottery-type games use illustrations related to casino-type games in an effort to create a sense of excitement in the lottery-type game similar to the excitement associated with the depicted casino-type game. However, in spite of these illustrations in lottery-type games, the games remain essentially passive, with little player involvement.
It is an object of the invention to provide a gaming method which provides for active player involvement while maintaining the predetermined chances of winning along with the verifiable, predetermined payouts which are characteristic of lottery-type games. Further objects of the invention include providing a gaming apparatus and a program product for implementing the gaming method.
A gaming method according to the invention utilizes a first level game and a plurality of second level or daughter games. Each game at a particular level comprises a separate lottery-type game having a number or plurality of game records. Each game record includes a predetermined result. Thus, the first level game includes a plurality of first level game records and each first level game record includes a first level game result. According to the invention, each first level game result is associated with a single value common to the result in each other first level game record. However, the result associated with each second level game record varies between various predetermined prize values. For example, the game result associated with a particular second level game record may comprise a winning result which is associated with a prize or payout, or may comprise a losing result not associated with any prize or payout.
Regardless of the number of different games at each particular level, each game at a particular level comprises a separate lottery-type game. The game records for each game level according to the invention may be developed by any suitable means including prior art means for generating or manufacturing lottery-type games.
According to the invention, the first level game record provides a player with a basis for making some permissible response from a set of permissible responses. This set of permissible responses preferably comprises possible plays in a casino-type game which the multi-level lottery-type game simulates. Each permissible response corresponds to one particular second level game in the plurality of second level games. When a player makes a permissible response to the first level game, the response effectively enters the player in the second level game corresponding to the permissible response which the player has made. The player then receives a game record from the particular second level game, and the result of this second level game record comprises the result of the multi-level game. Since the player chooses their response from the set of permissible responses, the player effectively chooses the second level game in which they participate.
In the preferred form of the invention, the game records are implemented as electronic data structures and the games are played through a player terminal. In addition to a suitable display, the terminal includes a player input device which enables the player to make game play requests, such as the initial request to participate in the first level game and the permissible responses which enter the player in the second level games. The player input device may also allow the player to make other types of inputs not directly related to the play of the games. A communication arrangement is included in the apparatus for facilitating communications between the player terminal and a game record storage device which stores the game records.
In the course of play, a player is enabled to view a first level game representation which is defined by the result of a particular first level game record. Where the invention is implemented using a player terminal having a suitable display device, a first level game representation comprises some graphic representation displayed on the player terminal in response to a first level play request which the player has entered through the terminal. In this example, the player receives the first level game record through the terminal and is enabled to view the first level game representation when the terminal displays the game representation. Regardless of the manner in which the first level game representation is displayed, the game representation may include some graphical representation related to a traditional casino-type game. The first level game representation may, for example, comprise a graphical representation of a draw poker hand. The representation is defined by the received game record in that the result included in the record dictates a type of representation which must be displayed. For example, where the game is implemented to simulate draw poker, a first level record may include a result corresponding to a xe2x80x9cfull house.xe2x80x9d In this example, the game record result dictates that the graphical representation comprise some collection of cards showing a full house.
Once a player is enabled to view a first level game representation associated with a particular first level record, the player must, in a preferred form of the invention, participate in one of the second level games. The player participates in a second level game by making one of the permissible responses. A particular permissible response causes the player to receive a second level game record from a pool of records making up the particular second level game corresponding to the response. Similarly to the first level game record, the received second level game record dictates a second level game representation which indicates the result included in the record. The game player is enabled to view the second level game representation through the player terminal. Any prize associated with the received second level record may be paid at the terminal, may appear as a credit at the terminal, or may be handled in any other suitable fashion.
The multiple second level games corresponding to permissible responses to a first level game facilitate greater player participation in the games. Each game, however, remains strictly a lottery-type game with a predetermined payout or prize for each game record, similar to the predetermined prize or payout for each ticket of a traditional scratch-off or pull-tab game. Thus, the games are readily verifiable and avoid the variability in total payout which is characteristic of casino-type games. Yet the game representations associated with each game record according to the invention may be related to a casino-type game so that it appears to the player that they are participating in a casino-type game rather than a lottery-type game.
In the electronic form of the invention, the player terminal has associated with it a play control arrangement for controlling the play of the game. The play control arrangement may comprise software instructions executed on a processor at the terminal or a processor associated with the terminal. This play control software includes first level game code which causes the player terminal to display a first level game representation in response to a first level play request initiated by the player at the player terminal. Second level game program code included in the game control software causes the player terminal to respond to a permissible response made through the terminal. The terminal responds to such a permissible response by displaying a second level game representation associated with a particular second level game record.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments, considered along with the accompanying drawings.